Torture by Design: Saying No to the Architecture of Solitary Confinement (tags)
Friday, August 16 marked the 40th consecutive day of a multi-ethnic statewide prisoner hunger strike initiated from inside the Security Housing Unit (SHU) of California's Pelican Bay State Prison. As the horror of solitary confinement comes under increasing scrutiny in the US and around the world, human rights activists are confronting this public health and safety epidemic from a variety of angles. One group, called Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility has challenged solitary confinement in US prisons by recently launching a Change.org petition asking the American Institute of Architects to amend its Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct to prohibit the design of spaces for killing, torture, and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
Hatemongering in America—the Post-Carter Dilemma Versus Conservative Opposition (tags)
The venom and vile the spews forth from America’s body politic is endemic of a people infected with fear and prejudice; but this learned hatred of a democratic agenda is not one based primarily on racism—yet hostility and resentment is very much its spirit. Rather this anima of animosity is one that seeks scapegoats for any instability felt or imagined of America’s middle and lower class realities, and all presumptions of a relatively naïve and misinformed society.